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Crystal red shrimp are a variety of freshwater shrimp of the genus Caridina.
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Discovery
In 1996, Mr. Hisayasu Suzuki of Japan discovered a red form of Caridina sp. among the usual black form offspring. He registered "crystal red shrimp" as a trademark for this autosomal recessive red mutation of the normal bee shrimp. The variety has gained wide popularity since in Japan and worldwide and has been further refined by the founder and other breeders to produce specimens with larger white patches and intensified red. In Japan they are often known as Red Bee Shrimps.
Care
They grow up 2.5 cm in size and live in temperatures up to 27°C (80.6°F), surviving best at 20–25°C (68–77°F) with a pH level of 6.5–7.2. The shrimp are quite sensitive to fast changes of the water parameters, especially when it comes to nitrogenous waste, or nitrite. Soft, slightly acidic water is the ideal breeding environment; breeding in harder alkaline water is not as successful. They reproduce between the ages of 4.5 and 5 months with a size of at least 2.2 cm. The sexes are hard to differentiate, especially on juvenile shrimp. Crystal red shrimp maybe crossbreed with other bee shrimp as well as bumblebee shrimp and it can cross breed with tiger shrimp, which are also of the Caridina genus.
Grading
Captive-bred Crystal Red shrimps are often graded on a scale of quality denoted as C, B, A, S, SS and SSS, the latter denoting highest quality. The grading of the Crystal Red Shrimp is based on the color and distribution of the markings, and can be very subjective. Some shrimp breeders' websites have charts showing examples of the various grades.
